Dress code: Susquehanna Twp. School District's lab-coat idea would be a distraction

The Patriot-News, fileHaving dress code violators in Susquehanna Twp. School District don lab coats is not the answer.

It wouldn’t be a normal year if local school boards didn’t revive the debate over uniforms and dress codes.

With students following trends such as ripped jeans, sagging pants and skimpy clothing, proponents of uniforms see them as the solution to avoiding distracting fashion statements.

However, a committee of the Susquehanna Twp. School Board has recently floated an idea that requires a different kind of uniform.

The proposal is meant to discourage the district’s middle and high school students from violating the dress code by requiring offenders to don a white lab coat over their clothes if parents can’t bring others for them to wear.

It seems administrators have turned to English class curriculum for inspiration, taking a page from “The Scarlet Letter” by suggesting a public humiliation of dress code offenders.

As it stands, the dress code prohibits offensive T-shirts, skirts that don’t reach a student’s fingertips and hats, among other clothes and styles that can obviously serve as a distraction to learning. The issue is not with the dress code, but rather its enforcement.

Susquehanna Twp. schools rely on staff to flag offenders and notify parents to bring their children acceptable clothing to wear. Without a change of clothing, students are unable to return to class. This can be a problem for the school and for parents who aren’t able to leave work.

Although the lab coat has been touted as a punishment that would allow the students to return to class, it only seems to replace one distraction with another.

It’s difficult to imagine concentrating on a teacher when you’ve been marked with a prominent badge of shame. Unfortunately, some students also might see it as an opportunity to gain even more attention in school.

The school board has discussed adopting uniforms in the past, and we certainly are glad it is not considering that at this point. There was a lot of public sentiment in the community against the idea. And the originator of the lab-coat proposal should be recognized for its creativity, but better enforcement shouldn’t take the form of a modern dunce cap.

Instead of resorting to extreme measures to enforce the dress code, the school board should consider more reasonable policies that don’t infringe on students’ self-expression and can be enforced by school staff.

Of course it starts with parents who have the ultimate responsibility of ensuring that their children are wearing clothing that is appropriate for school when they leave home in the morning.

Surely, we all can appreciate the time of a school district’s staff is better spent educating kids than policing dress code violators.